Luanne bought 50 stamps, some costing 37 cents and the rest costing 22 cents. She paid the postal clerk a total of $13.25 for all the stamps. How many of each type of stamp did Luanne buy?

Question

Luanne bought 50 stamps, some costing 37 cents and the rest costing 22 cents. She paid the postal clerk a total of $13.25 for all the stamps. How many of each type of stamp did Luanne buy?

I keep on getting 1 for the 37 stamp, which doesnt make sense.

Answer 1

H*.37+(50-H).22=13.25

H(.15)+11=13.25
H= 2.25/.15=15=expensive stamp
(50-H)=35=cheap stamp

Answer 2

To solve this problem, let's use algebra to represent the given information mathematically.

Let's assume that Luanne bought "x" stamps costing 37 cents each and "y" stamps costing 22 cents each.

We are given that Luanne bought a total of 50 stamps. So, we can write the first equation:

x + y = 50 ...(Equation 1)

We are also given that Luanne paid a total of $13.25 for all the stamps. Since each 37-cent stamp costs 37 cents and each 22-cent stamp costs 22 cents, we can write the second equation:

37x + 22y = 1325 ...(Equation 2)

Now, we have a system of two equations. We can solve this system using substitution or elimination method.

Let's solve this system using the elimination method.
Multiply Equation 1 by 22:
22x + 22y = 1100 ...(Equation 3)

Now, subtract Equation 3 from Equation 2 to eliminate "y":
37x + 22y - (22x + 22y) = 1325 - 1100
15x = 225
Divide both sides of the equation by 15:
x = 15

Now substitute the value of x into Equation 1:
15 + y = 50
y = 50 - 15
y = 35

Therefore, Luanne bought 15 stamps costing 37 cents each and 35 stamps costing 22 cents each.